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Karen
Karen is one of the main characters of Cabin Fever. She is played by Jordan Ladd in the original movie, and Gage Golightly in the 2016 remake. Background Not much is revealed about Karen's background except that she has known Paul since the 7th grade. Some time shortly before the movie's timeframe, a friend of hers named Ken Web came on to her and kissed her, but Karen didn't reciprocate his feelings. Cabin Fever Karen travels with her four friends, Paul, Jeff, Marcy & Bert, to the cabin in Jeff's pickup truck. They make a brief stop on the way at a general store to pick up supplies. After the group unpacks, Karen walks to the nearby lake with Paul for a swim. Along the way, they meet Bert who is carrying a rifle. He tells them that he is going squirrel hunting, which horrifies Karen and Paul. Later, Paul tries to tell Karen he has a crush on her, though while this is apparent to the audience, Karen doesn't seem to realize it. Down at the lake, they sunbathe on a raft together and Karen discusses her romantic life briefly, before asking to kiss Paul. When Paul asks her if it means they are a couple, Karen tells him to "don't be gay", leaving it unclear whether or not Karen wants a romantic relationship with him. That evening, the group gather around a campfire outside the cabin. They meet the stranger, Grim, who is camping nearby and his viscous dog, Dr. Mambo. Karen seems to be the member of the group most intimidated by Dr. Mambo. Sometime later, after the group migrates inside, the diseased hermit comes to their door asking for help, but the group are intimidated by his sickly appearance and slam the door on him. When he tries to steal their truck, Karen joins with the others in preparing to fight him off. Karen grabbed a butcher knife from the cabin to threaten/scare the hermit off with. Like the others, Karen is horrified when the confrontation ends with the hermit running off into the woods, engolfed in flames after the group accidentally set him on fire. The following morning, she is still very upset. While the others seem to have made their peace with the fact that their actions were self-defence, Karen has a crisis of conscience that they'd attacked the dying hermit rather than help him. Marcy, Jeff and Bert leave the cabin that morning to look for help, but Karen stays behind with Paul to pack the luggage so that they are ready to leave the cabin as soon as possible. Paul gets Karen a glass of water during this time. Unknown to anyone but the audience, the cabin's water supply has been infected because the hermit's dead body landed in the local reservoir. By drinking the water, Karen becomes the first person in the cabin to get infected. Sometime later, when the others return to the cabin, the group have a discussion about when they'll be ready to leave and whether or not they should report their confrontation with the hermit to the authorities. Karen leaves the discussion because she feels nausious and goes back to her bedroom to take a nap. Paul disturbs her later and they chat briefly before Karen goes back to sleep with Paul hugging her. Some time later, she is rudely awoken to discover that there is a huge wound on her inner thigh. Realizing this means that she's got the disease, the rest of the group kick Karen out of the cabin, percieving her as a risk to their own health, and force her in to the small tool shed nearby. A little later, Marcy comes to bring Karen some food and by this time Karen is developing a rash around her nose. Later that night, Dr.Mambo (who has since been seen roaming the woods without Grim and has been behaving aggressively towards other members of the group) shows up outside the tool shed and tries to pull the door open, presumably to attack and eat Karen. Jeff scares him off with a rifle shot. Bert promises to keep watch outside the shed all night to keep Karen safe. Karen doesn't respond but is heard making quiet wheezing noises. By the time the group is ready to leave the next morning, Karen's legs are severely deteriorated and she is very groggy. Paul and Marcy help her to the truck, but as they are helping her inside Karen vomits blood all over the interior and collapses on to the ground. This causes a rift between the group and Bert drives off alone. Marcy and Paul remain to clean Karen up the best they can, but without the truck for transport, they can't do anything else for her so they drag her back to the tool shed and lock her up. Some time later, Marcy attempts to flee from Dr.Mambo and opens the shed door, but isn't able to enter it in time to save herself. Paul comes running back to the shed soon afterwards and finds Dr.Mambo eating Karen, who appears to be dead. However, after killing Dr.Mambo, Paul discovers that despite having her guts and all the flesh of her face eaten off, Karen is still alive and concious. Paul grabs a shovel, indicating that he intends to euthanize Karen with it and it seems like Karen reacts to this sight, but it's impossible to tell whether or not she wanted Paul to do it or not. Paul bludgeons her to death with the shovel. Her body is seen at the end of the movie, being burnt by the sheriff's deputies. In Fandom Paul & Marcy Due to the blossoming romance between herself and Paul in Cabin Fever, Karen becomes part of an unusual love triangle later in the movie, between herself, Paul and Marcy, after Marcy seduces and beds Paul. There has been a lot of discussion and debate between fans as to the significance of Karen's role, if any, in the development of this sexual relationship between her friends. Fans often note that Marcy and Paul's friendship becomes noticeably closer as they cooperate in caring for Karen during their final 24 hours at the cabin. Additionally, when they finally have sex, Marcy and Paul seem to be both wrestling with their immense grief over Karen's poor health. Some fans interpret this to mean that Karen was the one primarily responsible for Marcy and Paul sleeping together. Her illness was the direct cause of both the emotional bonding, and the emotional distress that ultimately led to Paul and Marcy having sex. If she hadn't gotten sick, they wouldn't have become emotionally close enough to become lovers, nor would they have felt the overwhelming need to seek comfort and release through casual sex. sex scene.]] Paul and Marcy's sex scene is notably broken up with a cutaway shot of Karen dying in the tool shed. There is no consensus among fans as to how this image is meant to be interpreted, nor how it relates to Paul and Marcy's sexual encounter. Some fans theorize that it represents the decay in relationships between the protagonists; how Karen has been discarded and forgotten by Paul and Marcy while they carelessly have sex. Others theorize that it indicates that Karen's condition haunts Paul and/or Marcy's thoughts, even while they are trying to find some escape from their grief, via a casual sexual encounter. And others theorize it is merely meant to prophesise the gruesome fate that awaits Marcy, who begins to show her first symptoms of infection during the sex scene. One fan theory about Karen's role in Paul and Marcy's relationship is that Karen might have urged Marcy to begin a relationship with Paul and/or have children with him. The theory goes that while Karen laid on the ground outside the cabin (just after Bert drove off), she realized that she was going to die and lamented the life, marriage and family she was never going to have with Paul. So she urged Marcy to not take life for granted and to settle down with a nice, dependable guy like Paul. Soon after, overcome with grief and fear, Marcy impulsively decided to act on Karen's advice. Category:Females Category:Victims Of The Disease